


The Necessity

by lostin_space



Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Canon Compliant, M/M, Minor Maria DeLuca/Michael Guerin, Panic Attacks, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-17
Updated: 2020-05-17
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:08:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24241831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lostin_space/pseuds/lostin_space
Summary: “I mean, it’s not everyone,” Alex said.“Just the necessity and the tag-alongs,” she said. Alex shrugged.“I mean, I guess.”“And he’s the necessity, right?” she said, gesturing towards Michael.
Relationships: Michael Guerin/Alex Manes
Comments: 20
Kudos: 166





	The Necessity

**Author's Note:**

  * For [female_overlord_3](https://archiveofourown.org/users/female_overlord_3/gifts).



> idea courtesy of female_overlord_3!

“There you are!”

Michael couldn’t help but stare as Alex’s badass demeanor slipped away in favor of smile as he turned to the voice. They all seemed confused as Alex went to the little old lady who he was clearly familiar with, bending down to meet her in a hug. She held onto him tight and exchanged a few words before he started leading her over to the rest of them.

They should’ve known, really, that when Alex said he knew where to go with that note and brought them to a reservation, it was going to be someone he knew. It just hadn’t clicked that it was probably an old lady. Maybe it should’ve been obvious, though.

“Guys, this is Lorna, she was a friend of my grandmother,” Alex introduced. They all gave curt smiles and nods while she took them in. “She’s _probably_ the smartest person ever, so I figured she could help.”

“When you said you were coming, I didn’t know you were bringing everyone,” Lorna said, still smiling at all of them. But her eyes lingered a little too long on Michael and he shifted awkwardly under her gaze. Alex either didn’t notice or didn’t care. Maria, however, tightened her grip on his arm.

“I mean, it’s not _everyone,”_ Alex said.

“Just the necessity and the tag-alongs,” she said. Alex shrugged.

“I mean, I guess.”

“And he’s the necessity, right?” she said, gesturing towards Michael. He blinked hard and furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. Alex seemed to hold his breath.

“Um,” he breathed, looking away completely, “Can we go inside somewhere and I can show you what we found?”

“Absolutely.”

Lorna gave Alex a knowing smile that drifted to Michael and only changed a little bit to show her disdain. He felt ridiculously awkward and slipped out of Maria’s hold in response. Still, they all followed her and Alex into her house. Michael kept his elbows in unnaturally tight so she wouldn’t touch him.

“It looks the same,” Alex acknowledged, voice a little nostalgic. Michael couldn’t help but smile at that. 

“Was I supposed to change something?” Lorna asked. Alex laughed softly.

“No, it’s just… Oh, you have these?” he said as he walked towards a little side table. Michael watched intently as he picked up a deck of cards. He held them up a little. “My grandma’s tarot cards.”

“Your grandma read tarot cards?” Maria asked. Alex shrugged.

“She did it for fun more than anything, said it kept her in touch with herself and others,” he explained.

“She was always right, too,” Lorna chimed in, “Predicted the man Alex would be by the time he was five.”

Alex huffed a laugh, “I’m pretty standard.”

“Well, that’s not true,” Lorna said, turning to the rest of them, “Only kid I’ve ever seen have the lovers be upright _and_ reversed in the near future. It was always one or the other since he was 14. His grandmother said that meant he was destined for a great love.”

“Yeah, that happened when I read him in high school,” Maria commented softly.

“So, did you ever find your great love?” Isobel asked playfully. Michael, on the other hand, couldn’t find it in him to be playful. Instead, he felt a little sick.

“Of course he did,” Lorna answered, smiling straight at Michael. He felt the need to just fold in on himself. 

“Yeah, anyway, let’s just show you what we came here for,” Alex said, giving a dry laugh as he tried to brush it off. 

“Right, right. Make yourselves comfortable, I’m going to go make tea,” Lorna said.

“Oh, you don’t have to,” Max said. She waved him off as if that wasn’t even an option.

“Why don’t you come help me carry it?” Lorna said to Michael, again not leaving much room for argument. He looked to the rest of the group, but Isobel just found it funny and Alex was avoiding all eye contact while Maria and Max looked neutral.

So, he just let himself be hauled off.

Michael didn’t speak, simply waited patiently as he stood in the kitchen and she got started making them tea. He didn’t know what he was supposed to say. Clearly, she had him pegged and anything he said would most definitely be used against him.

“You know, Maggie, Alex’s grandmother, was far more in touch with the spiritual side of things than I am. I wasn’t lying when I said she was always right. She could read a person with one look and know their whole life story with one conversation,” Lorna said, hands particularly steady as she brought a pot full of water to the stove. Michael kept his eyes on that rather than her. “I think she would’ve liked you.”

“I don’t know about that,” Michael admitted.

“Oh, no, she would’ve. You know how I know? Because despite the fact that I’m not nearly as in tune as she was, I can still see your connection with our Alex from a mile away,” she said easily. His eyes snapped up to her, unsure of what to do or say in this situation. Sure, he knew this was coming from the moment she laid eyes on him–she wasn’t subtle–but now he didn’t really have a choice.

“It’s… nothing, really,” Michael said. But that was a lie. Everyone knew it was a lie.

“That girl that was hanging on your arm,” Lorna said, dipping a few tea bags into the boiling water, “She knows she’s fiddling with someone that doesn’t belong to her.”

“Nah,” Michael said, forcing a soft laugh as he tried to push away the discomfort he was feeling, “Nah, she wouldn’t hurt Alex on purpose.”

“Well, I never said that, you did,” Lorna said, giving him a secret little smile. Michael held his breath, looking over his shoulder to see if anyone might be lingering in the doorway to come to his rescue. “Do you mind me asking what’s wrong?”

“Huh?”

“Alex loves you, you love him, the universe loves you together so much it showed you to him when he was 14, so what’s wrong?” she wondered, tilting her head inquisitively, “I can’t understand the hesitation.”

“Sometimes… sometimes love isn’t enough.”

“Of course not, but love _is_ enough to make you want to try. And the trying is where the enough comes in,” Lorna said like it was simple. He hated that she made it sound so simple. It made him feel stupid. 

“It’s not like he’s trying either.”

“Oh? Maybe I misunderstood, but he came here for you. You’re the necessity,” she said, “He’s not good at hiding that. But neither are you and maybe that’s why the connection is so visible to even an untrained eye.”

Michael leaned back a little, trying to catch the eye of someone who might save him. The four of them seemed to be in quaint conversation, though, all ignoring him. Of course.

“I don’t know,” he said. Lorna hummed to herself.

“I think you do.”

Michael didn’t respond and she didn’t provoke as she poured out six cups of tea. He helped her carry them back into the living room and pass them out. If Alex’s hands brushed his fingers as he gave the cup to him, well, no one needed to know.

The spent the next two hours talking about that note they found in the wall, gaining information and talking about so much shit and Michael heard approximately none of it. Instead, he was staring at Alex and trying to make sense of things while his skin slowly started to feel too tight.

Was he making a mistake? No, of course not, they’d tried and they’d failed. But this were a little different now, right? They were more honest now, weren’t they? They knew more about each other now than ever before, so maybe he _was_ making a mistake and they should try again. But Alex had already put himself out there the last, what, eight times? It was his turn. But Maria was there. Were they even dating? Even if they weren’t, shouldn’t he say something? No, because he wasn’t going to do anything. Alex was good now. It didn’t matter what she said or what tarot cards said or anything. They just didn’t work. They were over.

But then Alex smile and Michael felt like he was going to die.

“I need fresh air,” Michael blurted unceremoniously, standing up and leaving before anyone could ask questions.

He stood outside the house and tried to remember how to breathe. Maybe there was a connection, maybe he was a necessity, but what did that even mean at the end of the day? What did anything mean? Why was he here? Was this even real? Was this just a simulation? If it was, that was bullshit and rude and didn’t make fucking sense.

“Michael.” Alex’s voice came from somewhere, but Michael felt like he was stuck in his head. “Hey, what’s going on?”

Alex’s hand touched his arm, grounding him easily and it seemed like only more proof of that stupid connection.

“So, what, I’m your fucking soulmate and you just neglected to tell me?” Michael asked. Alex furrowed his eyebrows.

“What? No, soulmates aren’t a thing.”

“How many psychics predicted us?” Michael demanded. Alex just stared at him. “How many, Alex?”

“Like, eight, maybe?” he said. Michael just scoffed, shaking his head. “It’s not that big of a deal. Honestly, it’s probably just because you aren’t human and your psychic alien pheromones are a little more potent.”

Michael stared at him for a moment before it slowly dissolved into mutual laughter. They were still touching, still connected. It felt so, so much easier to draw closer than it was to pull apart. So Michael pulled him closer. Or maybe he came closer on his own. It was hard to tell, but he knew they were sharing breath by the end of it.

“But, seriously, are you okay?” Alex asked sweetly. Michael’s smile was sad and he moved his hand up to fix Alex’s collar, giving him something to do with his hands.

“I think, um,” Michael said, that horrible, suffocating feeling crawling back up into his throat, “I think I fucked up.”

“Fucked up what?” Alex asked like he didn’t know. When Michael met his eyes, it was clear he really didn’t. “Tell me, I can help.” A stupid, helpless pout found Michael’s lips as he tried to control himself. But it was hard.

“I didn’t try,” he said, “Or I, I _did_ try, but at the wrong time. Why did I stop trying the second you started? Why do I fucking self sabotage like that?” Alex didn’t say anything, just stayed close for comfort and let Michael know he was listening. “She told me she could _still_ see that we have a connection and that Maria can see it too. Am I going crazy? Is that true? Is Maria, like, deliberately putting herself between us? Am I stupid?”

Alex sighed, resting his forehead on Michael’s. It grounded him more and he closed his eyes, breathing in sync with him as he tried to make sense of things. However, it was hard to make sense of anything. He was drowning in confusion and regret and the woodsy smell of Alex’s cologne.

“Have you considered therapy?” Alex asked instead of answering. It made Michael open his eyes. “Like, talking to a professional to make sense of the chaos?”

“What?”

“You always said there’s so much chaos in your brain and you do things to cope with it,” Alex whispered, looking him right in the eyes like this was everything, “Have you considered that that chaos is what’s standing in the way of you being able to understand or accept things?”

“Are you calling me crazy?” Michael asked. Alex snorted a laugh and rolled his eyes.

“No, I’m saying it’s okay to ask for help,” he said, “Sometimes bed hopping and pretty faces aren't the cure.”

“I can’t go to a therapist without risking the alien thing,” Michael said. Alex nodded, his hand traveling up to rest against Michael’s jaw. 

“Why don’t you let me see what I can do about that?” Alex said. Michael furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, but Alex just used his thumb to smooth them right back out. 

“She said love isn’t enough, but trying is,” Michael whispered, “Do you think that’s true?”

Alex quirked a little smile. “Yeah.”

Michael breathed in and breathed out slowly, nodding as he took it all in. He understood that connection a little bit better in that moment. He didn’t want to leave that bubble of _Alex._

“I think you’re my necessity, not the other way around,” he told him. Alex huffed a small laugh and slowly moved his arms around him, pulling him into a hug. Michael melted into his embrace.

“Yeah, probably.”

**Author's Note:**

> as always, if I missed any tags, let me know!
> 
> also on my tumblr: spaceskam


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